Happy Bookday to Me

[ashnistrike]

Deep Roots is out today!

You can find previews and giveaways on Tor.com.

Places you can find me, real and virtual:

• Hanging out at Readercon in Boston
• At Pandemonium Books, also in Boston, July 17 at 7PM
• At the Hoover Library Science Fiction Festival in Hoover AL, July 27-29
• At the OutWrite queer literature festival in Washington DC, August 4
• 6-book interview at Nerds of a Feather
• Interview on Paul Semel's site
• Spark of Life column on Marie Brennan's site

Comments

[sovay]

Deep Roots is out today!

Mazel tov!

I look forward to seeing you at Readercon and may even manage to have recovered in time for Pandemonium.

[heron61]

I'm most of the way done and absolutely loving it. I very much hope there will be a third book very soon.

[sporky_rat]

Hurrah, hurrah!

I sat up and read it all.

Audrey continues give me the starry heart eyes. So does Professor Trumbull.

[eagleoftheninth]

I have reread Deep Roots several times now and aaaaaaaah!

I'll confess; I'm a sucker for worldbuilding. I LOVED learning more about Deep One culture best of all! And I love speculating about things hinted at. Like, the business with the dog freaking out at Aphra, and the earlier business when the talisman reminded her of a mako shark, that made me realise, water people must have a whole different set of associations for animals. Like how we air folk think dogs are loyal, foxes are cunning, lions are brave...it's just human to mythologise the creatures that are important to our cultures, based on their perceived behaviour. Maybe water folk think of sharks as 'determined' on account of how they doggedly track their prey. Aphra's grandpa definitely implied that dolphins are seen as cunning, dangerous, fickle maybe-something like the way the old stories of parts of Europe talk about the fae. Maybe octopuses are symbols of self-sacrificing love because of how the mums give up their lives to protect their eggs. (And THAT gives a whole new layer of meaning to Aeonist gods being depicted with tentacles!) It makes me wonder what kind of talking-animal kids' stories water people would tell and write!

And that last segues nicely into the part of the story that stuck with me the most; when Aphra imagines an alternate timeline where the Chyrlid Ajha decided on the protections of openness instead of those of secrecy, visualising a Deep One neighbourhood in New York. I keep wondering what that world would be like, especially when I'm out and about my own home city of London. A few weeks ago I was on the bus, and it went past a storefront for the charity Islamic Relief. The image immediately struck me of an Sharhlyd faith-based charity organisation. Aeonist Relief, with the slogan 'We care when the universe doesn't'. Maybe there'd have been Aeonists at the London Pride parade too-I attended that for the first time this year...

I am already hungry for the next installment of Aphra's adventures. I read any amount of fanfiction these days, but I haven't enjoyed a series of books so much since I was a little kid. Keep being awesome, Ms Emrys!

[heron61]

I saw in an interview when Deep Roots came out that you'd mentioned that any future books in the series would depend upon sales of this one. I dearly love this series and am wondering if there has been any word from your publisher if more books in the series might be possible, or if there's hope for seeing future books via kickstarting or other alternative publishing?